Optical communications involves the conversion of light to electricity and electricity to light. Optical and optoelectronic connectors can be used for optical communications in a variety of applications including telecommunications networks, local area networks, data center links, and for internal links in high performance computers. There is now interest in extending optical communication to applications inside smaller consumer electronic appliances such as laptops and even cell phones. Expanded beams may be used in connectors for these systems to provide an optical connection that is less sensitive to dust and other forms of contamination and so that alignment tolerances may be relaxed. Generally, an expanded beam is a beam that is larger in diameter than the core of an associated optical waveguide (usually an optical fiber, e.g., a multi-mode fiber for a multi-mode communication system). The connector is generally considered an expanded beam connector if there is an expanded beam at a connection point. The expanded beam is typically obtained by diverging a light beam from a source or optical fiber. In many cases, the diverging beam is processed by optical elements such as a lens or mirror into an expanded beam that is approximately collimated. The expanded beam is then received by focusing of the beam via another lens or mirror.